A Loose End
by rach0486
Summary: MISSING SCENE FROM THE END OF ‘THREADS’. Serious Spoilers ahead! Jack and Sam talk about where to go next.


**STARGATE SG-1: A Loose End**

Summary: MISSING SCENE FROM THE END OF 'THREADS'. Serious Spoilers ahead! Jack and Sam talk about where to go next.

Season: 8 (about five minutes before the last scene of Threads)

Pairing: Jack/Sam (Duh!) UST.

Spoilers: THREADS (I wouldn't read this if you don't want to totally wreck the episode). Also small ones for Lost City part 1.

Disclaimer: I don't need to own the characters and stuff at the moment, the PTB are being kind for now! But for this, I'm just borrowing them and promise to have them all back in one piece by Thursday!

Author's Note: Hands up anyone who thinks Threads is the best 90 minutes EVER of Stargate! And not just for the Jack/Sam stuff! I sure as hell do! Hope you enjoy this little piece of embellishment. Please R&R as always. Thanx. Enjoy!

Warning: FLUFFY!

A Loose End

Jack sat down in his favourite fold out chair on the dock and began to arrange his fishing gear. Beside him, Sam watched in fascination as he meticulously set everything out. As soon as Jack realised he was under scrutiny, he looked up and caught her eye.

"What?" he asked with a smile.

Sam smiled back, slightly embarrassed that he had caught her staring.

"Nothing, I just…" she stopped herself from going any further, picking up her own rod and casting the float out into the pond.

Jack's eyes followed the little pink buoy as it bobbed about on the surface and was brought slowly back to the shore. His mind was racing with various possibilities of what she had stopped short of saying. She'd been doing that a lot since she found out about him and Kerry and then even more so when Kerry broke it off with him and she with Pete. He remembered seeing her outside his house. She was dying to say how she felt for him. And for once, he didn't want to stop her (despite Kerry). But now, he could feel them slipping back into that all too familiar – all too well rehearsed – holding pattern that had dominated them for the last eight years.

"How did Pete take it?" Jack asked idly as he cast his line out. It was something he had wanted to ask for a few days now.

Sam paused from reeling in and looked at Jack, trying to gauge some reasoning behind his question.

He was gazing straight out across the pond to the end of his line. His face showed the usual guard on his emotions, making it impossible for her to fully fathom what he was thinking.

"OK, I guess," she replied eventually. "About as well as anyone can take that sort of news."

Jack nodded and kept looking at his float. He really didn't know what he was supposed to say beyond the initial question.

"It's sort of a relief, you know?" Sam added, though she knew she was on the verge of babbling. "Something about the whole thing just didn't seem right."

Her mind was cast back to his house and the two occasions she had been set to tell him everything.

The first time had been before their fight over Antarctica. She had been so close then to saying it when he stopped her. He didn't want to know then; confessions like that usually came when people knew they were dying. He wasn't giving up then and in a way, she was glad she hadn't told him then. She wanted to be absolutely sure that he would remember every syllable she had to say. Which is where her second attempt came in.

If Kerry hadn't interrupted her, she would have said it. And as she told him then, if she didn't get it out in the open at that point, she probably never would. Even now, with no Pete and no Kerry around, she was once again reserved in telling him her feelings.

"You… er…" Jack began, breaking Sam's chain of though. She could tell her was treading carefully around a question he wanted to ask. "You get everything sorted for the funeral?"

All of a sudden, Sam felt like she'd been hit in the stomach by a lead weight.

"Yeah," she said trying not to cry. "Mark and the kids are gonna meet us at Arlington."

"How's he holding up?"

"Oh, you know Mark…" Sam said vaguely, well aware of the fact that Jack didn't know Mark all that well. She clarified; "He's putting on a brave face, but…" She trailed off and turned her face away from him. One tear fell down her face as she cast her line out for a second time.

Jack watched her from the corner of his eye as she concentrated on fishing, while at the same time she carefully pushed her grief and pain out of sight, out of mind. Mark clearly wasn't the only one putting on a brave face.

Jack was dying to tell her what Jacob had said to him. But how exactly does one bring up a subject like that in a casual conversation? 'So, Carter, sorry about your dad and all, but you'd never guess what he said!' Somehow, that just didn't cut it.

"You know, just before he… when he was…" Sam couldn't bring herself to say out loud that he was dead. It all seemed a little surreal still.

"Yeah," Jack prompted her to continue. He understood what she was trying to say.

"You wanna know what he said to me?" Her full attention was turned to Jack's eyes, searching for the earnest response she needed.

"Sure," he replied, unsure of what else he could say.

"He said… Don't let rules stand in your way."

She kept her gaze absolutely fixed in his, waiting for him to say something – anything – to ease her mind.

At last, Jack looked away from her and sighed heavily. For a moment, Sam thought she had left everything too late. That he didn't care for her that way anymore. But then he spoke.

"I had a little chat with him myself," he said once again looking out over the pond. "He told me I had to look out for you in his… absence. That I should make you happy."

Sam was close to tears. "He did?"

Jack nodded and turned to look at her. "You know Kerry and I broke up?"

"Yeah."

"It was for you," he said. "She knew she couldn't compete… I love you, Sam. And I don't care how long it takes… You're worth it."

Sam's face split into the most enchanting of smiles. Without thinking, she reached the short distance between them and kissed him.

She only meant it to be a small kiss to show she reciprocated his sentiment. But before she could pull away, Jack let go of his fishing line and deepened the kiss. They became entangled in the passion and promise it held for their futures. Before, both had thought it cruel to ask the other to wait, but now, they realised it was something they both desperately wanted. And no force in the Universe was going to change that. Not even the Air Force.

Finally, they broke apart.

"I love you so much," Sam said breathlessly.

Jack smiled and planted a small kiss on her forehead before picking up his line and casting once more.

The pair descended into a comfortable, knowing silence as they heard Daniel's car disturb the gravel at the front of the cabin.

"This is great," Sam mused, mindlessly reeling in her line.

"I told you," Jack teased.

"Can't believe we didn't do this years ago," Sam added, choosing to ignore his dig.

"Yes… well…" Jack said poignantly. "Let's not dwell."

Sam glanced at him; smiling in the knowledge of what they had just promised.

By now, her float and was lifting out of the pond, revealing another unsuccessful attempt.

"There are no fish in this pond, are there?" she quipped looking at the empty line.

"Nope!" Jack replied simply, making Sam giggle as Daniel and Teal'c appeared around the corner.

"Hey!" Daniel greeted them. He smiled as he set the cool box down on the grass. He looked over at the couple on the dock. He hadn't seen either of them looking so relaxed in months. It made a nice change.

His observations were interrupted, however, as Jack swung his line back again, nearly braining him in the process. Daniel only just managed to avoid an involuntary pierced ear.

"Nice," Jack commented.

Daniel scowled slightly, seeing the corners of Jack's mouth turn up ever so slightly. He knew exactly what he'd been doing.

"Caught anything yet?" Daniel asked walking around behind them.

"No," Jack and Sam said in unison.

"Want a beer?" Daniel offered a bottle to each of them.

Jack turned around slightly in his seat and eyes the bottle in Daniel's hand.

"Well, it's about time!" he said taking the bottle. He flashed a grin at Sam as Daniel went to set up his own line by Teal'c.

Yes, Sam thought. It was about time for both of them!

* * *

Author's Note: You know, Jack really does nearly hook Daniel in the episode! Hope you enjoyed. Please review! Thanx! 

P.S(important-ish): For those who are interested, I'm doing what I said I never would do… I'm writing a follow up story for Operation Checkmate (actually I'll be doing two eventually). I know I said no more, but I had an idea of how to make the second part different, so I'm going for it! Watch out for it! It'll be called "House Arrest".

Luv rach0486

x


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